by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

by Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY Sports

The first word: At 36, coach Josh Pastner is rarely thrown in the same sentence as national championship-winning coaches John Calipari or Bill Self.

But the fifth-year Memphis coach is recruiting on their level - landing six top-100 recruits for the best freshman class outside of Kentucky or Kansas in 2013.

That might make Pastner seem like a master salesman, but the selling point comes with the program itself, Pastner confides.

"Academically, everyone who stays here for more than three years gets a degree. Then, the basketball community is unmatched," Pastner said. "We're what the Green Bay Packers are to their community. It's like we're the Yankees. Memphis Tigers basketball unites everybody. It's more than a game for these fans, it's a way of life."

That recruiting pitch kept highly coveted Memphis natives Austin Nichols, Markel Crawford and Nick King in town and subsequently lured RaShawn "Pookie" Powell and Kuran Iverson to Beale Street. The icing on the cake came when Dominic Woodson decommitted from Baylor and signed with the Tigers this past June.

The talented freshman class, as well as a cast of key transfers, joins the veteran-laden backcourt of Joe Jackson and Chris Crawford to give Pastner a deep, potent roster to work with in the team's first season in the newly formatted American Athletic Conference.

The Tigers were never respected last season while waltzing through Conference USA, but playing in a league with Louisville and Connecticut will surely position Memphis better in the postseason. If the young players grow up fast and the chemistry's right, this team wouldn't be a bad pick to continually circle on your bracket come March.

2012-13 in review: 31-5 overall (16-0 in Conference USA), lost in third round of the NCAA tournament to Michigan State.

Tournament projection: At-large bid, No. 4 seed.

Coach's corner: "Playing in front of 18,000 fans and feeling that 24/7-365 pressure might not be for everyone, but this is a special place so my job is easy. It's not about me, I'm just the coach. I know so many would give anything to sit in my chair." - Pastner, who has led the Tigers to the postseason in each season he's been coaching, including three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances.

Star watch: Joe Jackson (13.6 ppg, 4.8 apg), Crawford (10.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 3.1 apg), and Geron Johnson (10.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 3.5 apg) makes for a three-headed monster in the backcourt, and the trio's leadership will be vital in molding in the young crop. On the interior, the Tigers lost Tarik Black (transferred to Kansas) and Adonis Thomas (graduation) but added George Washington transfer David Pellom, who averaged 10.4 points and a team-high 6.1 rebounds in 2011-12. Sophomore Shaq Goodwin (7.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg) is the lone returning paint player and figures to play a larger role in 2013-14. Freshman forwards Iverson, King and Nichols will be impact players right away because of the team's needs in the frontcourt.

X-Factor: Michael Dixon. The transfer guard was granted a waiver by the NCAA to play this season after leaving Missouri, where he was suspended the first six games of last season after a pair of sexual assault allegations became public. (No criminal charges were filed in either case.) An explosive guard, Dixon averaged 13.5 points and 3.3 assists two years ago at Missouri.

Team strength/weakness: Undoubtedly, Pastner will have one of the country's deepest stable of guards and the hope is, like last season, they'll all be unselfish. Memphis was fourth in the nation in assists a game (17.2). There will still be a good amount of holes to fill on the front line, but that's where some of the top freshmen enter the mix and new assistant coach Robert Kirby figures to work well with the bigs. Even though guard play will be a strength for this squad, taking care of the ball has been an Achilles heel in the past and could pose a concern this season. The Tigers made 14.5 turnovers a game last season, which ranked 80th in the country.

Conference outlook: This Big East is no more, and basketball-centric titans such as Georgetown and Syracuse went separate ways. Moreover, Louisville and Rutgers will be gone after just one season in the newly named, remodeled American Athletic Conference. Never mind the conference realignment headaches from the past and future, this season figures to be a strong one for the league centered on football. With defending national champion Louisville, Conference USA champion Memphis, Connecticut and Cincinnati, four NCAA tournament bids seems inevitable. Sending five teams is a possibility. Temple and Houston are well positioned to have upstart seasons, and South Florida could play sleeper. But really, Southern Methodist might pose the biggest question mark all season, as the Mustangs enter Year 2 of Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown's regime with high excpectations given the number of returning/incoming pieces.

Basics: The University of Memphis is in Memphis, Tenn., and the Tigers play their home games at the FedExForum (also home to the NBA Grizzlies), which opened in 2004 and seats 18,119.

Trivia: Actor/singer/performer Justin Timberlake was raised a Tigers basketball fan in suburban Memphis and continues to closely follow the program. In recent years, he has hosted the ESPYs award show and made Saturday Night Live appearances wearing Memphis Tigers apparel.

About this post: Every weekday, one of the 68 teams in USA TODAY Sports' projected NCAA tournament field will be dissected. The final bracket will be revealed in November.

Glance at the dance: So far 56 teams have been selected to the USA TODAY Sports preseason NCAA tournament bracket. The seeding so far: